Written answers
Tuesday, 13 February 2024
Department of Education and Skills
School Facilities
Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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70. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills what measures are being taken to support positive mental health in schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6401/24]
Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Promoting positive mental health is a priority for the Department of Education and myself as Minister.
The Department’s approach in the Wellbeing Policy is founded on research and best international practice in relation to how schools can best support the wellbeing and mental health of children and young people. The approach proposed is a whole school and preventative approach which has multiple components that include:
- Providing children and young people with opportunities to build core social and emotional skills and competencies
- Providing children and young people with opportunities to experience supportive relationships within the school setting and to learn through those relationships
- Providing children and young people with opportunities to be part of a school environment and culture that feels both physically and psychologically safe, an environment in which children and young people feel a sense of belonging and connectedness, in which they feel their voice is heard, and they feel supported.
- Schools are encouraged to use a reflective, school self-evaluation approach to identify and prioritise the needs of its own school community in relation to the promotion of wellbeing and mental health, and to respond to meeting those needs.
My Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychological support to all primary and post-primary and special schools.
The NEPS service provides access for all schools to:
- Psychological support in the event of a Critical Incident
- A Casework Service for individual children where there is a need for intensive consultation and assessment via a NEPS psychologist or through the Scheme for the Commissioning of Psychological Assessments (SCPA).
- A school staff Support and Development Service, to build school capability to provide a comprehensive continuum of support in schoolsand
- Ongoing access to advice and support for schools.
NEPS teams offer training and guidance for teachers in the provision of universal and targeted evidence-informed approaches and early intervention to promote children’s wellbeing, social, emotional and academic development. In NEPS, Support & Development can be delivered nationally by working groups, and regionally by teams or by an individual psychologist working with an allocated school. For example, Initiatives such as the Incredible Years Social Emotional learning Programmes and the FRIENDS Resilience Programmes which aim to address anxiety reduction have been welcomed by schools and their impact positively evaluated.
On the 31st May 2023 the Cabinet agreed to the establishment of a pilot programme of counselling and mental health supports in a number of primary schools. The pilot includes two Strands:
Strand 1- involves one-to-one counselling to support the needs of children in all primary schools in counties Cavan, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Monaghan and Tipperary.My Department continues to review our overall approach to fostering good mental health and wellbeing in our schools so that children can be optimally supported to reach their potential.
Strand 2–involves the establishment of a new type of support to schools from Education Wellbeing Teams and the introduction of Wellbeing Practitioners to provide early intervention and support to clusters of schools in Cork, Carlow, Dublin 7 and Dublin 16.
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